The Odd Thing About Death
by the laughing redhead
Summary: An afterlife story, following DH. NT/RL LE/JP SB and everyone else that i loved. Let's just say that our favorite dead characters didn't get boring in the afterlife Marauders. Who else?
1. Chapter 1

**Well, this story is completely me. I got the idea from the sentence Mr. Padfoot and Mr. Prongs would like to welcome Mr. Moony home.**

**This story actually has chapter names *shocking i know* Hope you enjoy it. **

**Once again, many thanks to the wondrous Alix33. She is possibly the best Beta-er EVER.**

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Epilogue:

There was some speculation given to the thought that there was perhaps some sort of curse on the Marauder. Each were taken in various times of life. It was as if they had been sent for such a time as this: A time to defeat Voldemort, and that once their parts in his demise were completed, they were no longer needed.

Remus had thought about it extensively when staring out into an existence devoid of his closest friends, and come to no conclusion.

Sirius had also thought about it. But more flippantly and less deeply. Yet filled with his own kind of wisdom. Those were rare moments in which Remus would about have a coronary out of shock.

Perhaps they _were _cursed.

Remus just wished that he could have seen what their lives would have been like had they not been sent for such a time as this.

Then again, perhaps the world was much safer _without _them.

Dismissing such things as fancy, he made his way toward Hogwarts, knowing that this could be their last stand.

* * *

Part 1

In which the Marauders welcome a comrade home

* * *

Lupin opened his eyes - they felt creaky and stiff .

For some reason he knew that he wasn't supposed to be in King's Cross Station, although where he was supposed to be he wasn't sure.

"Remus?" came a sleepy, weak voice from beside him. A familiar pink head popped into view.

"What happened?" she asked, also staring around, looking as confused as he felt.

"I'm not sure." he replied, standing to his feet.

It had been death and blood and constant action up until that last moment.

Up until... what?

"It was something important - _very _important."

"HEY MOONY!"

Someone shouted, in a voice that Remus knew as well as his own, though he hadn't heard it in seventeen years.

A small group of people was coming toward them. They were filing off a train that hadn't been there a few seconds before.

A familiar untidy black head had appeared, but this wasn't right. This _couldn't _be happening.

James was _dead_.

James _died_ years ago.

James _wasn't_ seventeen when he died.

Remus' well organized mind was poking several large plot holes in the world around him.

Yet another impossibility followed the first: Lily stood close behind James, her flaming red hair curling gently around her shoulders.

They were both so _young_.

Then Sirius stepped out of the train. His dark eyes sparkled with the youth and happiness that he had lost.

"Hullo Remus." he said with a wave and his usual grin.

Apparently, they lost the ability to act like adult human beings at that point, and the two young men jumped on Remus laughing and taking him in a bone-crushing hug. Sirius and James were enjoying his confusion immensely as they helped him to his feet finally.

Remus frowned, feeling completely out of control.

Their goofy smiles irritated him. Just like they had when he had been young and was attempting to read or _think_, they were always completely intent on keeping him from doing _any _of those things.

"What the devil is going on, Sirius?" He snapped, ignoring the tugs of feeling he had when looking at his best friends in the world, _friends who are __**dead**__. _Reminded his logical mind.

" I know this is wrong - you're all _dead_."  
His words were blunt, and he regretted saying them, wishing that he could just sit and talk. But he knew that there was _something _that he needed to get back to.

James laughed, per the usual.

"That's something we have in common, Moony old lad."

Tonks slipped her small hand into his, feeling the same confusion.

That _was_ Sirius Black standing there, except it was nothing like the Sirius that she remembered.

She only recognized James and Lily from pictures and stories that her husband had told her.

"That's not possible, Pads - we were just..."

"Fighting at Hogwarts?" asked Lily, her green eyes glistening slightly.

Remus remembered suddenly.

_The battle, seeing Dora, _his_ Dora, fighting a bloody Death Eater. Dolohov was coming up behind her, his eyes sparking with evil intent. _

_NO thought Remus, throwing__ himself between his wife and the green flash._

_He had heard Dora scream his __name, then __cradle his head as the life rushed from him like so much smoke._

_He felt her tears on his __cheek, heard her whispering__ that she loved him into his __ear and her__ resounding roar of Aveda Kedavra as she stood, prepared to avenge__ him. _

_But, i__t had been too__ late: Her__ grief and prostration over her husband's body had wasted vital seconds. Dolohov's spell hit its mark. _

_Tonks made no noise as she collapsed next to her husband's still-warm body, __and followed him into the afterlife. _

It had all seemed so distant, so unimportant at the time.

Remus Lupin felt tears rush to his eyes. Tonks hugged him tightly to her, threatening to break him.

"I'm _so _sorry." she whispered brokenly.

Remus held her tightly as she wept into his shirt, kissing the top of her head in comfort.

"Thank you for staying with Me." he said quietly.

She looked up into his hazel eyes and knew that he harbored no blame or anger.

Sirius cleared his throat.

"Sorry you had to find out like that mate, we thought you knew."

Sirius always looked uncomfortable when confronted with a mistake that he'd made. His poor, puppy dog face made Remus remember all the times that Sirius had gotten him into to trouble, and all of those times that the werewolf had forgiven his best friend.  
Remus shook his head, amazed to find his hair a bit longer than he'd remembered.

"Remus?" Asked Tonks- with amazement in her voice. "You're _young"_

James laughed his familiar laugh and Remus Lupin smiled down into his wife's bewildered face, starting to understand what was going on.

To be at peace.

"I didn't always look like a middle aged man, love."  
Sirius snorted loudly, embarrassment forgotten.

Remus glowered, looking to James and Lily for help.

James shrugged.

"M'fraid he's right, mate."

Lupin was about to make an angry rebuttal when there was a bump and Ted Tonks stumbled out of the train door.

"DORA!" he shouted loudly, throwing his arms around his only daughter, who laughed and cried at the same time.

"Sorry I missed the train," he said effusively, first shaking Remus' hand and then pulling him as well into a crushing hug. "I'm still having a bit of trouble finding my way about this place..."

Another train came roaring up, with two black-haired men standing in the doorway. They trundled out, looking as though they'd been arguing about something.

"Hallo Remus!" said one loudly as he caught sight of the young man whom they'd known so many years ago.

Remus stared at the two men for an instant before smiling broadly and hugging both in turn.

"Dora, I'd like you to meet Molly's brothers, Gideon and Fabian Prewitt. Gid, Fay, this is my wife. Dora Lupin."

Dora could see that her husband and these two men had a great deal of history, made especially obvious by the way that James began fingering his unruly hair in an attempt to flatten it, and Sirius' odd shifting.

Remus had described Padfoot and Prongs in great detail after they married.

But she had never heard a word about the Prewitt brothers.

Lily rolled her eyes meaningfully at James' odd behavior, and winked at Tonks.  
Tonks dimpled slightly, glad to meet the two brothers of a woman that she loved like a second mother. However, she was smiling more significantly because Remus introduced her as Dora, just Dora. _His _Dora

"What ever happened to your bikes?" asked Remus suddenly. Sirius coughed and James beat him persistently on the back.

Gideon and Fabian completely ignored the two Marauders babbling in the background.

They shrugged.

"We assume Molly hid them away after we were..." they grinned, looking eerily similar despite their differences. "Disposed of. She was afraid that her own Twins would discover our legacy."

"If we would have thought it through we would have left them to you - as we always had a soft spot for you - and you have a wife who looks like she knows her way about a motorbike..."

Tonks flushed, then nodded wryly.

"We would have cherished your bikes..." said Sirius over-loudly.

"We would have worshipped them," finished James.

They seemed to notice James and Sirius all the sudden.

The two in question seemed to melt into their shoes and Tonks was reminded of the time when she had bumped into the Weird Sisters one morning at the Ministry.

Hero worship. At its worst.

It had been her first week as an Auror. She had turned into a babbling fool who rattled off every bit of information she had ever known about the legendary band. Moody had stomped pleasantly on her foot and told her to bugger off.

She had obeyed with alacrity.

Speaking of the irritable old codger:

"IF I WERE A DEATH EATER YOU ALL WOULD BE DEAD!"

Sirius Black - who had been mooning after Gideon Prewitt for the past two minutes - practically jumped out of his skin.

Remus - who had refused to be shocked by anything since his second year in Hogwarts - merely raised an eyebrow.

"I've been gone less than a year and you're all slacking off on being _vigilant!!!" h_is chocolate-y eyes looked ready to pop out of his head and attack the whole group.

"NO WONDER YOU'RE ALL DEAD!"

Tonks - who had never been intimidated by the fierce old man - giggled and threw herself at the him.

Mad-Eye had also been through some changes, as he had a whole nose, both legs, and both eyes, which glinted fiercely at the surrounding group while Tonks practically hung off of his neck.

"We've missed you" shouted Tonks, punctuating each word with a squeeze. "How could you go and get yourself killed by some STUPID DEATH EATER- who's going to tell all the stupid new members of the Order to be _vigilant?? Constantly??"  
_At these words, he seemed to break...

"Ah lass," he muttered, "I've missed you."  
"Not to mention there aren't any Death Eaters wondering about heaven..." said Fabian

"He's been a bit bored." Continued Gideon

The Prewitt brother went silent at Moody's dangerous glare.

James and Sirius - hero worship aside - seemed to be able to stand awkwardly beside the two black haired giants.

Gideon laughed loudly at something Remus had been saying quietly to them.

"You did well, my lad. We _were _a bit worried about you for a while - not being right in the head - you were such a normal lad, and you hung about with these gormless muppets..." he gestured to James and Sirius-

Remus shrugged, frowning suddenly. Choosing to ignore the muppet comment for James and Sirius'

"Why are you two here? I mean, if it's just to say hello and welcome to your lovely eternity, - then I'm flattered, but I doubt that."

Sirius and James looked as if they would have given their left and right arms to have Gideon and Fabian Prewitt welcome them to heaven.

James seemed to have more restraint. Sirius still looked as though an atomic bomb had gone off in his skull. He kept attempting to wipe a silly grin off his face and failing miserably.

The black haired twins at once looked saddened and eager.

"We've come for a member of the family." Fabian said.

Everyone turned to look at the long dark corridor which most everyone came through.

"Who is it?" asked Sirius worriedly.

Gideon shrugged.

"We don't know yet, just _knew_ that we needed to come to greet someone coming across. It's been a long while since one of ours has arrived."  
They all waited in stunned silence.

Everyone was guessing who would be the one to come through next. Yet no one really wanted their guess to be the one.

An odd whooshing sound - both high and low at the same time - came through the tunnel.

Tonk's tightened her grip on her husband's hand.

They heard laughter: A young man, a flicker of ginger hair.

Fred Weasley fell hard through the tunnel, his pale, freckled face alight with laughter.

"Did you hear that, George?" he yelled from where he was lying face down on the station floor. "Percy made a joke! _Percy_!"

The small group that was waiting for him remained silent.

He opened his eyes - seeing his friends in life - and some that he knew for a fact weren't living.

His confusion was short-lived before his face broke out in a cheerful smile.

"Hello Sirius, long time no see."  
Sirius walked forward and clasped the redhead on the back.

"Hello, Fred."  
He glanced past Sirius to the others.

"Harry _does _look like his mum and dad," he said in awe. "And there's Uncle Fabian and Uncle Gideon." He waved at Remus and Tonks. "George is _not_ going to believe this. I _never _have the good dreams."  
Gideon and Fabian strode up, twin looks of sympathy on their young faces. They didn't look much older than their nephew.

"Fred, lad, this isn't a dream..." began Fabian.

"It's more like... the afterlife." Gideon was apparently the blunt twin. Fabian glared at his brother, mouthing the words "Way to be delicate…"

Gideon shrugged, Fabian smirked slightly.  
Fred eyed them warily, as if waiting for the punch line

"Ri-ight..." he replied finally, when their eyes did not twinkle with merriment. "And I'm Kingsley Shacklebolt."

They said nothing. His green eyes darted around nervously.

"If this is heaven, then why are Remus and Tonks here?"  
Lupin came and put a hand on the young man's shoulder.

"We're dead too."

Fred's eyes popped with rage.

"Then why are you so _bloody _calm!?" he roared, fighting the urge to cry. "I was _just _talking to George and Percy. And Remus, you were just over there with Tonks, fighting Dolohov... and Ron and Harry... and _Hermione_- and- and- And _why_ does heaven look like King's Cross Station!?"

Tonks smiled a watery smile at her fellow conspirator.

"I guess death is just less terrifying when you're actually dead..." answering his first question

Fred fought a smirk.

"We _still _haven't figured out why this looks like the station, but this isn't really heaven, this is just sort of... in between." said Sirius

"_Oh..." _Fred answered, in a quiet voice, looking _slightly_ more accepting of the whole matter

Lily stepped forward, extending a small hand.

"Hello Fred. I'm Lily Potter. I believe you know my son."

* * *

Several hours (or so they guessed, since time didn't exactly work the same here) later, they were all seated around the shady tree next to the shimmering pond.

It was a golden day, the kind that you dream about.

"And how is little Teddy?" asked her father after a while.

A shadow of longing passed over both Tonks' and Lupin's faces

"He's wonderful," said Tonks almost immediately, attempting a brave smile.

Lupin placed an arm around her.

"He looks just like Dora, it's uncanny."

"But he has your eyes," said the Ex-Auror smiling at her husband.

Ted Tonks reached a hand out and took those of his daughter and her husband.

"It will get easier, I promise. And you can keep an eye on everyone, which makes things a little easier..."

"Thank you," said the couple. And they meant it.

* * *

**It's not quite over, there's a little bit more. ha, nothing like 27 million more chapters, more like 2 or 3. I know it ended a bit randomly but the next chapter was starting and there was no other place to put it. ugh, anyway, if you liked it review or whatever, i rarely care what you put in there as long as it's more than like... 2 words...**

**anyway. **

**Thanks for reading, see you next chapter,**

**Red  
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	2. Chapter 2

**_Author's Note Thingy-bob: Well ya'll it's been a week, so i thought that i might upload the next chapter. It's a bit random, and you'll have to tell me if you think it's way too out of character. I rather liked it, but i'm a bit biased... :-P Umm... it doesn't really have a specific point of view, so if you were wondering, then now you know._**

**_For those of you who had question about stuff, but have turned off your PM's then you should know that i can't answer you, lol so i'm a bit stuck._**

**_Thanks again to the wondrous Alix33 who beta's and corrects and is completely okay with my extreme lack of grammatical correctness. :-) If she hadn't corrected this piece, you would be more confused then you already are._**

**_Anyway, i think that's all i have to say for now..._**

* * *

**Pt 2.**

**In which the Marauders show rare maturity (must be the air up here)**

* * *

The disruptions had stopped several hours ago.

Apparently, the Battle For Hogwarts had cost more lives than anyone anticipated.

Fred and Lupin had waved at Colin Creevey as he'd passed, arm in arm with a young man who could have been his brother _or _his grandfather. There was really no telling here: everyone looked around the same age.

Fred now sat between his two dark haired Uncles, laughing about something that they'd done as young men. James and Sirius seemed to have calmed their adoration slightly- and were able to converse somewhat normally with their idols.

Suddenly Lily tipped her head up, as if listening. James, Sirius and Lupin were doing the exact same thing.

All four stood carefully.

Lupin turned to his young wife and kissed her gently.

"I'll be back soon, love," he whispered faintly into her ear.

"Where are you going?" she asked, glancing at her father, who didn't look surprised at all. Neither did the twins, although they never seemed surprised about anything. Tonks suddenly began to get an idea about where Lupin had picked up his vague sense of cool, that seemed layered with his natural comfort.

"Harry needs us," he answered cryptically.

She grabbed his arm. Sirius, James and Lily waited patiently.

"He's not..."  
"No." Remus said comfortingly. "Not quite. He wants us there, for a little while."

Tonks' nose wrinkled in confusion.

"How is that even poss-"

Remus kissed her again.

"I don't know Nym. All I know is that he's there... _waiting."_

Tonks nodded, grinning slightly at his pet name for her.

* * *

The three Marauders and Lily waited on the platform...

"Lily, I don't think he's going to like this," James murmured, looking uncomfortable.

They had just left Harry a little bit ago. He was back among the living. He had his whole life ahead of him. They were quite at peace now that their son had finished his task.

The three Marauders then had prepared to return to the shady tree, but Lily had asked they stay, and they had hesitatingly agreed.

"I don't care if he likes it or not: We're staying." Lily stated firmly.

James looked to Sirius and Remus and shrugged, saying _I tried_ without uttering a word.

Time passed. They were sitting - leaning against the platform's ageless walls - watching as occasional trains came in all down the endless platform with people getting on and off in constant cycles.

"I still can't believe you knew that they thought we were - you know..."  
"Together?" Remus inserted as his friend struggled to say the words.

Sirius grimaced.

"Yeah..."  
"What was I to do, Padfoot? Deny it? That would have practically assured it was true."

"What _did _you say then?"  
Remus grinned.

"I told them that _we _weren't together, but that I'd always had my suspicions about you."  
James roared again with laughter as Sirius attempted to strangle his best friend.

An engine - aged and stately- rumbled into the station and gave a faint hiss as it stopped

A young man with reddish hair stepped from the train car: He was clad in a deep blue robe, covered in silver glinting stars. His serious face broke into a warm and sincere smile as he saw the small group lounging by the wall.

At once, they knew him: His merry blue eyes shone brightly and the glasses were unmistakable.

"I was hoping you would come," he said to all, but he looked at Lily.  
She smiled wisely and nodded.

The half-moon glasses glinted in the moonlight that none of them had noticed until now.

"Run," he said tersely. Remus jerked - anticipating the painful change -

"Do not worry, Remus," said Dumbledore patiently. "The rules that governed our world have no power here."

Remus face relaxed - as the truth in Dumbledore's hit him - and a weight seemed to drop from the man's shoulders.

No one there had ever seen their friend like this - relaxed and comfortable - finally understanding how much the burden had truly affected him.

All conversation stopped cold as the odd whooshing noise filled the station again.

Remus felt the queer breeze touch his face. It was at once disturbing and comforting.

Lily's face broke into smile, which broadened as time passed.

"He's here," she said, pointing toward a dark tunnel, where a tall gaunt figure was taking faltering, unsure steps into the silver moon-glow.

He was clad, as always, in severe black. His black hair mussed and his face bloody. Fingers pressed to a spot on his neck as his piercing gaze swept the station.

He still hadn't seen them.

Lily transferred her weight from one foot the other in anxious waiting.  
There he was: looking so young and uncertain, as she remembered from all those years ago.

James grasped his wife gently by the arm.

"Go ahead, Evans," he said quietly.

"Really?" she asked, knowing how hard this was for him.

He shrugged, ruffling his hair unconsciously.

"If you must."

She smiled her smile that was only for James and grasped him by the shoulders, hugging him tightly.

"Thank you," she whispered into his ear and ran toward the man by the tunnel.

Severus Snape paled at the sight of the redheaded woman speeding toward him like she had when they were young.

She looked younger than he remembered, as if she hadn't aged a day past seventeen...

Lily stopped short of him, suddenly shy of the man who looked stricken at her presence.

"Hi Sev," she said faintly.

He stood, shaken.

"Lily?" he managed to gasp out.

The redhead could restrain herself no longer. She seized him and hugged him as tightly as she had when they were children. Feeling him revert to his seventeen year-old body. As everyone seemed to here.

"Took you long enough," she said into his ear, stepping back to look at him. "My goodness, I've missed you."  
The look of complete vulnerability vanished and instead was replaced by haunting guilt.

"Lily I..."  
"You're forgiven." She cut in, her green eyes shining brightly just as Harry's had as Snape had lay there dying. Harry's eyes - Lily's eyes. They had been his last memories. There had been something like forgiveness in Harry's eyes too.

"But I-"  
"You did terrible things, Severus Snape. Things that I cannot forgive you for - because they are not mine to forgive." He glanced down, but the tone of her voice made him look up again. "But you saw the wrong that you did - it was followed up by your best. And your best was worth waiting on."

She smiled that smile that always made him feel as if he could do anything.

"Now, come on, we've loads to talk about. And I've got some people that you're going to want to meet."  
He returned her smile - the first genuine smile he'd given in over twenty years.

Until he saw the rest of the group. If it would have been possible, Snape would have paled even more and run back into the blackness that he had just escaped from. Instead, he turned an odd shade of plum and safely schooled his features into their usual careful blankness.

"I believe we've met," said Snape stiffly as she drug him up to James Potter, Sirius Black and Remus Lupin.

Dumbledore was there - he was just off to one side - smiling faintly.

James looked to Lily with a face that said... _Really? _and _WHY?_

Lily eyed all three of them, her emerald green stare burning into The Marauders like the sun.

All three regarded her with an angry stare, followed by a standoff that would have made a cowboy proud.

Lily sighed

"Now, I don't expect you guys to be friends, but I _refuse _to spend the rest of eternity like we spent most of school - so get over high school and _grow up."_

Snape and James stared at her in slight shock. An oddly similar expression on their faces.

In unison they turned to the other, dismay painting their expression.

"Snape," said James.

"Potter," replied the half-blood just as icily.

"James..." interrupted the person in question. "My name is James - and if we're going to be friends...," they both looked pained at the thought. "You might as well call me by my given name."

Snape acknowledged this point with a nod of his head.

Another awkward silence.

Finally, to the surprise of many (or at least Sirius and Snape), James sighed and stepped forward.

"Well Sniv-"

Lily shot him a warning glare, but it was unneeded.

James caught himself almost instantly.

"Sorry old man - old habits die hard. As I was saying, Severus - it appears that Lily won't let me go rest... in peace...until we at least let bygones be bygones."  
Snape's eyes went cold.

James realized the reason in a moment, being a little more observant than anyone gave him credit for.

"Um... Listen, Sn-everus. There isn't a way for me to make up for the disgustingly proud berk that I was in school. Because...well...it's in the past. But I _can _apologize now - and I do. There was no reason that I should treat anyone like that I never gave you a chance - and I _am _sorry. If you will forgive me."  
Severus Snape glanced at Lily, then at James, then a brief glance at Sirius and Lupin, who remained quietly observant. Actually, Sirius looked vaguely nauseated- they ignored him, and Lupin placed a strategic kick on his friend's shin.

"Yes, I will.... James." Steeling himself for the next sentence, he swallowed his pride for the first time in his life. "And I too apologize for how I acted at Hogwarts, " he said finally, and shocked himself in truly meaning it - and managed to keep the sneer from his voice.

He was virtually unable to ask the forgiveness - which he did not deserve - of Lily and refused to give his own - even to a man that he did not think deserved it.

It was against his very nature.

"And Snape - thank you for what you've done for my Harry."

Snape inclined his head again, a little ashamed of the attention.

Remus - who had never been intimidated by the permanently angry Slytherin – had no qualms about being his friend.

There had been potential for them to be friends in their first year. But Remus had chosen to side with James and Sirius - who violently hated Snape. Remus had often wondered what his intense need to be liked by James and Sirius had affected.

"Hello Severus," said Remus kindly - in his normal, uncertain way.

"May I offer congratulations on your marriage to Auror Tonks." Said Snape in his low voice.  
Remus' smile was calm and happy.

"Thank you."

Silence pervaded their area of the station.

Sirius - the only one of the group smiling faintly - stepped forward.

"Well, hello Snape, it's been a while, hasn't it?"  
Snape raised an eyebrow and stiffened, still expecting the blow.

He could remember five times in school where he and Sirius had a conversation and Snape didn't end up with a bloody nose or a black eye.

"Ah... Yes, last time... I believe you were escaping into the distance after getting your godson to throw me through a bed and into a wall."

Sirius laughed loudly, but without derision.

"Yes, well...you were about to allow the Dementor's Kiss to be performed on me, so the feeling's a bit mutual."

They all began to move toward the train, a natural bubble of conversation now covering them.

Remus finally turned and asked.

"So, Snape, why _did_ it take you so long to get here?"

Snape - who still seemed surprised to be slightly accepted after all this time - frowned deeply, then, with a shrug, he answered.

"I suppose none of the powers that be were quite sure what side I was on."

Sirius laughed again.

"Yes well, they weren't the only ones: The Prewitt brothers were actually giving odds on whether or not you were good or evil."

"And?"  
"Well, I put a fiver down that you were quite as evil as Bellatrix Lestrange."  
Snape eyed him impassively.

"Well, I for one am glad you ended up good," said James quietly.

The Marauders stared open-mouthed at this statement. "I would have lost 40 quid on you."

Snape, surprised, laughed lightly- he looked as shocked as the rest of the train car at his sudden loss of composure - but then Lily laughed with him and at him. As only Lily could.

"Good grief Sev, you sound a bit rusty." She said finally.

Snape molded his face into a semblance of seriousness, realizing that he hadn't truly laughed since his fifth year at Hogwarts.

"It's been a while."

* * *

**_AN: Well, as you've seen, this has very little of poor little Tonks in it... and for that i'm sorry. But anyhoo...as i said up top, if you think it's too OOC then do tell. However, if you liked it. Then i accept lavish compliments, critiques and most major credit cards ( a little joke)._**

**_There will be two more Parts, but most likely only one more chapter, seeing as both of them are rather short looking... hmmm... well... i have nothing else to say. _**

**_Thanks for reading, _**

**_Red_**


	3. Chapter 3

**_Author's Note: This is the last chapter, actually, it's a double sort of thing. Both of these chapters were obscenely short compared to the two previous chapters and so i thought that i'd put them in the same set. Anyway, i hope you like them. Thankyou again to Alix33 my utterly fabulous beta reader. She is amazing beyond all words. :-))_**

* * *

**Part. 3**

**In which the best man wins… sort of…**

James found Severus Snape staring out into the sunset of another glorious day, the old Potion's Master looked oddly alone in this land of bliss.

"Hello James." He said dispassionately.

"Severus." James replied cordially, coming to stand next to his old nemesis. They both tried to get the odd taste out of their mouths. Both thinking dispassionately that it _may _take an eternity to get used to greeting each other like friends.

"You know, it bothers Lily when you disappear for days at a time like this. She always wonders where you are."  
Snape didn't look away from the darkening sky.

"Didn't you tell her I was here?"

James smirked at nothing, enjoying the cool that suddenly mixes with the sun-warmed air as the sun sets.

"My wife worries far too much, and I usually try to alleviate some of her fears. However, I can see when a man doesn't want to be found. And, I can respect that."  
Snape stole a glance at him, rather surprised at this.

"Thank you Potter."  
"You're welcome Snape."  
James turned to leave, knowing that Lily would come looking if he was gone for long.

"Potter?" Snape called quietly, causing the other man to turn back, "If it is too much for me to be here, around you, after… after what I did. After, all the things that you know about me now…" He trailed off, unable to articulate further.

James stopped and sighed, running a hand through his hair. The seventeen year-old-boy's body seemed to stretch around the wisdom of a man.

Snape suddenly realized that they'd all grown up too quickly after school ended.

"Do you still love her?"

Snape dropped his gaze to the moonlit grass at his feet. The sun had disappeared behind the hills, and they were left alone.

"I will always love Lily… for the friend that she was to me. Even when… when I did not deserve her. Now, I will admit to you, that in school, I loved her as you did. As you _do,_now. But when I joined the ranks of the Dark Lord, I turned that love to hate." Snape smiled a small sad smile. "After I… betrayed you both, and turned to Dumbledore for some relief to my guilt. I learned Occlumency, and part of learning that skill as well as I did, is being able to successfully bury any such feeling so deep, that I doubt that I could bring them to light even if I wished to." He shook his head, as if surprised that he had shared so much. "To answer your question James Potter, no. I am not jealous of you. Nor do I love her as anything more than my best friend." He brought his gaze up, suddenly direct and honest. "I have found out, that the best man _did_, in fact win."  
James nodded slowly, feeling the sudden bout of awkwardness that always follows a time when two males share about something from the heart. Both he and his ex-enemy were feeling urges to clear their throats, shuffle their feet, anything.

James broke the horrid silence first, a wry smile on his young face.

"Thank you Severus. Although, to tell you the truth… the only way I got her to marry me was because I told her that I was pregnant."

* * *

** Part 4:**

**In which the Marauder induct a long lost member into the illustrious (and most likely cursed) order.**

Nineteen human-years later- found four people seated at the base of a shady tree.

Ever since greeting him at the station, (and the unspoken accord that had happened that one time post-sunset) the four had been nigh inseparable- it was odd- to everyone else. But for some reason, they had accepted him. Not really knowing why.

Sirius was laughing loudly- the others were looking amused, as Sirius had no shame.

"Did you see McGoogles's face when little Scorpius was sorted into Gryffindor?" Asked James- pressing his glasses up his nose.

Snape's eyebrow rose slightly, speaking in his low voice.

"Poor Minerva two shocks in one night- she almost had a heart attack when little Albus was sorted into Slytherin."  
They all heard the pride in his voice as he uttered those words.

James shrugged.

"You know- since I've been dead- I've found new respect for your house Severus."

Snape nodded.

"The feeling is mutual."

"You know-" Sirius said, ignoring the fact that James had just signaled Remus to do something. "I still consider it rather creepy that you use McGoogles's first name…"

Snape's dark eyes betrayed nothing, and Sirius grinned emphatically, starting to learn to read the otherwise unreadable man.

"We worked together." He replied primly.

Sirius waved a hand.

"No matter what you call it I need to ask you one thing-" Remus groaned inwardly, James resisted the urge to grin. They both knew that bad things happened when _anyone _in the Black family got _that face. _Snape began to worry himself, although he let none of it show.

"What were your intentions with our beloved Transfiguration Professor?"

Snape's mouth dropped open,

"What the-"  
James –who judged the timing to be about perfect- cleared his throat, stopping Snape's tirade- and looked to Sirius, who looked shiftily at James and then cleared his throat and nodded to Remus. Snape pretended that he had missed the whole exchange. Although he could read the three of them rather well by now, he found it generally less disturbing if he didn't ask...  
"Severus-" Said Remus- who had been suddenly and rather abruptly elected spokesperson of the group coughed and spoke suddenly. "We've been talking- and we think that it's been too long since The Marauders have been a full group- and...well Sev- we think that you've always been a Marauder at heart and-"  
Severus Snape raised a hand- effectively stopping Remus' words.

His young face no longer filled with the lines of his life. He still held grief and guilt- but his past sins no longer made him who he was. He was free.

"You want to know if I solemnly swear that I'm up to no good?"  
James grinned widely-

"Yeah- something like that."

**~Fin~**

* * *

**_So anyway, i liked it. and i hope you did too. i was thinking of perhaps making this into a sort-of miniseries you know, different random stories about my favorite characters in their afterlives. I don't know... i thought it might be fun. so tell me what you think._**

**_Thank you much to all of you who have reviewed and commented and complimented (especially ya'll) my story. I did enjoy writing it, and i'm so enthused that you liked reading it._**

**_Ummmmm........ i really have nothing else to say, except... umm... well.. nope, nothing. _**

**_YOU ARE COMPELLED TO REVIEW heheheh_**

**_Thanks again,_**

**_Red_**


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